Road rage incident leads to attempted murder charge

A 14-year-old girl yesterday recalled seeing her father pinned under a car shortly after hearing an explosive argument in the street below her apartment.

Kimberley Farrugia was giving evidence in the trial by jury of Patrick Grixti, 33, who is charged with the attempted murder of Francis Farrugia on September 22, 2005, in Birkirkara.

Ms Farrugia said she heard shouting in the street and when she peered out from their third storey government housing flat as she was getting ready to go to school, she saw her father arguing with Mr Grixti and the accused waving punches at him.

She ran downstairs and found her father lying under a maroon Dacia car with just his head poking out.

Shouting at Mr Grixti, she told him that he was going to kill her father and he responded by telling her to keep out of it and started hitting her with a sharp object.

"I told him to get the car off of him but he just said, leave him alone, let him die," the girl said.

As her older sister Theresa Attard came to the rescue, he pushed her aside and started beating Ms Attard instead, she recalled.

Police Inspector Ramon Mercieca told the court that he spoke to the accused an hour after the incident.

Mr Grixti told him that Mr Farrugia's red Pontiac was in front of his car and a garbage truck was stuck in front of Mr Farrugia.

According to the accused, Mr Farrugia reversed and hit his bumper, got out and started swearing at the top of his voice. He then came at him and punched him twice.

Not being able to drive forward because the garbage truck was blocking the way, he reversed and as he was doing so the victim punched him in the face. Panicking, he stepped on the accelerator and lost control of the car, he told the police.

Taking the witness stand, the victim said he was parked by the side of the road when the accused bumped into his car. He then told Mr Grixti, "Can't you see properly?" to which the accused replied by getting out of the car and taking a swipe at him with his car keys, scratching his face.

They got into a fight and the garbage truck driver managed to pull them apart. Mr Farrugia said he then went to see what had happened to his car.

Mr Grixti, he continued, reversed and when Mr Farrugia saw this he ran after him as he thought he was going to get away. But he ended up pinned against a parked van.

Making a sudden U-turn, the accused then mowed the victim down, with his car coming to rest against a small boundary wall of a driveway and Mr Farrugia ending up underneath the car, the court heard.

The victim spent six weeks in hospital suffering from a fractured pelvis. At one time he was in danger of losing his life.

Cross-examining Mr Farrugia, Mr Grixti's defence lawyer Michael Scriha gave a detailed review of the victim's criminal record that dates back to 1976. It includes 11 convictions for fights and breaching the peace and six for driving without a licence.

One of those fights, Dr Scriha added, was because he had an argument with a German couple here on holiday.

In his defence, Mr Farrugia told the court that the fight took place because the couple had crashed into him.

John Zammit, the victim's brother-in-law, testified that he was in his garage situated very close to the incident when he heard a lot of shouting.

Leaving the garage to see what was going on, he saw the accused hitting his niece and he took her away. He then rushed over to the victim to try and release him from underneath the car.

Using a jack to lift the vehicle, he then propped it up using bricks that had fallen from the boundary wall.

Jurors were yesterday taken to see the street where the incident took place.

The case continues. The head of the Prosecution Unit at the Attorney General's Office, lawyer Anthony Barbara, prosecuted. Lawyer Roberto Montalto also appeared for Mr Grixti.